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5/31/2013

Good morning, and a warm Friday Welcome to you. Hope you have some exciting plans for the weekend (mine include some housework...maybe! not very exciting, but gotta be done occasionally).
A fellow blogger has lost her DH, and another blogger let me know. I wanted to send her a card to let her know I was thinking about her.

Here's the card:

the overlay is vellum, embossed with the same Spellbinder that was used on the underlayer. This spellbinder is one of the heavy plastic green ones that I believe have been retired. It's not in the original packing, so I don't remember the name. Tried to find it on the web, but nothing showed up. Spellbinders put out quite a few of these plastic diecut & emboss folders, but I couldn't find the first one in my searching!

I had taken markers to color the embossed design, which is very detailed. I thought it was too bright. I don't do much with vellum, but I wanted to tone down the coloring, so I embossed a vellum sheet with a lightweight piece of cardstock underneath, so that this die wouldn't cut through the vellum. When I placed the vellum overlaid on the original c/s embossing, I liked it better.

5/30/2013

Hello and a big warm South Carolina Welcome to 2 new followers, Shannon & Mariaan. I'm always delighted 'to meet' new people so thanks for joining me.

Another blog friend had sent me a link to this challenge where she is a DT member, so I thought I'd give it a whirl using the sketch. The challenge can be found here. This will be my first visit to Jo's Scrap Shack, so thanks Brenda for pointing the way and encouraging me. Here's the card I made for the Funday Friday Challenge, using the sketch, hope you like it.

Card Specs:
Squares were cut from cardstock where I had experimented with brayering, then stamping. I was not

5/28/2013

Good Morning, and I'm back with an experiment that I've been trying. Folks, this card was really out of my comfort zone. I don't "do" grunge. I like it when I see it on others' cards, just not something I've wanted to do. I have been seeing some Dylusions videos lately, have bought a few sprays along. Don't usually have great success with sprays either. (I was the kid who always tried to color within the lines, so I guess it's a carryover from childhood?). Anyway, after seeing some videos, I gave this a try. So here's my very first effort....not sure if it would be called 'grunge' or not..<g>

Spritzed water over water color paper to dampen it, then just picked various colors of the Dylusions sprays. Spritzed a bit here, there, changed colors, did it all again. I have to watch myself that I don't hold the bottle too closely to the paper, also to not have a heavy hand.

- Once the paper was dry, I took a Judikins stencil and sprayed some white Dylusions over the stencil (the white flower in the center).

- after drying, returned the stencil, spritzed some plain water...doesn't show well in photo, but IRL you can see where it faded just a bit.

5/27/2013

Good afternoon & I'm a bit late with the card for today. I want to take this opportunity to say Thank You to all who served our great country in the armed forces - in any capacity - past & present. As the daughter, sister, wife & aunt of many in my family who gave service to this country, I am proud of you. To those currently sacrificing their time and perhaps their lives as well, you & your families deserve the thanks of ALL of us for our freedoms. Here's my card:

5/26/2013

Good morning, and Happy Sunday to you. Thanks for joining me this morning.
I got to attend a fabulous stamp garage sale yesterday, picked up some lovely PSX stamps as well as some retired SU reinkers, for which I've been looking. After my sleepless night on Friday, I had debated whether to check out the sale, as it had been rained out the previous Sat (but I showed up anyway, as I had missed the Rain Date in the notice! More Operator Error). Since I was awake anyway, I got up, got me fit to be see in public and off I went.

I finished this card last night as well as my 2 previous postings. This card is a set I got in a local Dollar Tree...12 note cards for $1.00. I'm always amazed at some of the neat stuff that some of my blog buddies find, and usually I don't score great bargains. I saw this little set, picked it up, put it down, wandered back to it eventually. Decided, "What the heck, only $1. Maybe you can think of something, it's cute". Fast forward a few weeks. Diecut one of the cards, and thought about adding some Flowersoft on the leaves. Now I don't generally have a great deal of success with Flowersoft...for one thing, the glue one is supposed to use, just gives me fits. It's hard for my hand to squeeze the little container hard enough to get out a small dab; plus I have to clean out the applicator (and YES, I DO store it upside down, as recommended! LOL). I finally got a little blob out onto an old cd that I keep on the desk for just such uses...and I spread it around on the different leaves with a toothpick. Added the Flowersoft & a bit of sparkly fine glitter.

5/25/2013

Hello again. Here's another card that's been hanging around for a while to get finished. Thought I'd pop over to see what's going on at Stamping for Pleasure Rudolph Challenge. (I'm having the darndest time spelling Rudolph correctly...either leaving out the 'l' or putting in the wrong spot! <g>).

I stayed up way too late last night, then when I finally went to bed, just couldn't get my mind to settle down to sleep. It felt like one of the little hamsters in a cage...if you know what I mean!

This is another recycled Christmas 2012 card. All who know me, know that I'm nuts about cardinals. I diecut this image, but it was quite large. To get it to look 'right' I had to set it 'on point' (you quilters will know the term). I had diecut it, and used 2 different mats. Then I had the brilliant idea to use some gold duct tape (or is it ?duck tape?) over cardstock, emboss that. Well, it looked just fine. However it was Waaayyy too large to set on point. I trimmed off most of the gold tape edging, contemplated adding some red corners all round...just didn't look right to me. I whacked off the top corner, diecut a card shape, added a sentiment, and said "That's it". After I photo'd the card & saw it enlarged, of course I noticed the white part of the basecard on the edge. Grrrrr. This one may just go into a pile that I'll call 'lessons learned the hardway'. I still like the image, yay, even if I'm unhappy with the final result.

Let's all jump over to Stamping for Pleasure and see all the entries for this month. I hear there are prizes too! Cheers, and catch you later!

Happy Saturday, and I have a card which I hope will fit the Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge
where today's challenge is to show some white. I see white, so I hope Hazel will too! And today is her wedding anniversary, so why not pop by to check out the beautiful cards and wish Hazel & her DH a Happy Anniversary.

Here goes:

I have had this recycled card on my desk for a while. I just needed to make a shaped card base. I had diecut this image from a card received Christmas 2012, added some bling, sponged the edges. Finally diecut the cardbase, so now it just needs an insert to be ready for Christmas 2013!

5/23/2013

Welcome. Thanks for stopping by on this sunny Thursday afternoon. Our sky has some thunderheads banking around so we may get another little storm this evening. The Mr. is out mowing the grass, and in a bit, I guess I should go out & act like I'm helping to do something. Before I do that, just wanted to post a card that I finished last evening. While browsing around some blogs, I had seen some nifty color combos using kraft & bright yellows...so thought I'd try my hand. To me, these bright colors lend a very summerish feel. Sorry I don't remember all the places I visited, so I can't provide specific links for my inspiration colors. I had been trying to return some blog visits, and then I'd see a link, check it out, and just 'wander the blogs' for a bit. Saw these colors used in quite a few recent cards.

- Cheery Lynn English Tea Party doily diecut in yellow & white patterned paper I rolled the sandwich back & forth through the Big Shot multiple times, also rotating quarter turns. I don't have the best luck with these CL doily dies, but this one did fine. I should add that I had the metal Cuttlehug plate underneath the die, with the dies blade facing up, then paper. Normally I place the die with the blade facing down, but with the CL dies, that doesn't work for me. - overstamped doily center using a Rubbernecker wildflower stamp & SU whisper white, so that there would be more background for my next diecut

5/22/2013

Good Morning and welcome! It's a lovely morning in our area, and I'm so thankful that it be so. We've seen all the devastation in Oklahoma on the news, and it really brings home the fact that after all our modern technology, Mother Nature (by whatever name you choose to call it) is STILL in charge. Our hearts go out to those fellow citizens who have lost loved ones, their homes or if not that, just lived through a horrendous storm. I've been through a small tornado, nearly 46 years ago (my daughter was 3 wks old) and I still remember that fright. If I could, I'd like to ask for your prayers for my countrymen in Oklahoma & Kansas.

I've been working on my Spellbinder organization again..taking the dies out of the cd cases where I've stored them, putting into the magnetic pages of the Art Bin cases I showed you earlier. Making progress.

After working on that for a while last evening, I got busy and made this card. I had all the elements ready to make it; was just a case of 'getting rountoit'.

5/17/2013

Happy Friday afternoon, and hope it's as lovely where you are as 'tis in our Upstate SC area today. Sunshine, blue skies, warm, & a good breeze. I have mentioned that we have a big milestone anniversary coming up this summer, so I wanted to get a special card made, for this very special guy. Worked up a card last night, don't think it's the one I'll use....BUT at least I've got one ready. After I made it, I decided I can do better than this, and need to do a card that some copic coloring on it....
Here's the card:

The sentiment looks like it's on crooked in this picture, but it looks straight on the card. This kind of thing bugs me. I think this and the sanding bit, may be what I don't really like about this one. So it will be back to the drawing board, but at least, I've got something in a pinch. This guy deserves more than just 'in a pinch', after putting up with ME for 50 yrs. Never mind, don't answer that!!! <g>

Now, this link SHOULD take you to the youtube site, directly to the video. It did me when I tested it. It's a shadow dance troup that was on Britain's You've Got Talent, and a cousin sent it to me. As a rule, I won't share stuff like this, but I thought this one was awesome. If you have time, check it out, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Over & out....Hope to see ya tomorrow. Have a good night. Hugs

Well, you didn't think I could sign off with no pictures, did you? This is the <laugh> rose garden off our back deck. The top picture is my Grandmother's rose bush, (I told that story last year ) and the bottom shot shows some others blooming. Granma's bush had buds on it when we left on our trip, and really had passed its peak when we returned. Still smells lovely though. The other bushes that you can see which don't have a lot of blooms, now are bursting with blossoms. I need to do some deadheading. Sigh, another yard chore! Enjoy

Good morning & thanks for popping by today. The card for today is made up of bits & pieces that were in the desk pile. The image is one I had done for a challenge some time ago, but I didn't like the way the butterfly turned out, so it was not finished. Last evening I decided on a way to salvage the image...I had diecut the image with one of the current S/Binders (think it was the Gold Circles One). The outside edge did not cut well (this was operator error, not the die's fault!). Wasn't happy with the look, so abandoned Mr. Butterfly & he's been flitting around on the desk for a while. Last night while watching old recorded tv shows, and thinking about making a card, I had the idea to use the plain old S/B circle die and cut a frame. Voila, it covered up the messup - pretty well anyway.

- Hero Arts butterfly, colored with copics- Ranger black enamel on antennae & body (never used this before & it sort of 'blobbed' on the body. Most of this stuff is rather thick in viscosity, but my bottle was 'thin'. I took a scrap of c/s and tried to shovel the 'body part' back within the lines).- Ranger stickles rubbed around on the wings for a bit of sparkle, also on the brown frame.- border trim from some El Cheapo paper, done with an EK success punch, yellow grosgrain ribbon from stash

5/15/2013

Good afternoon, and it's a beautiful one in Upstate SC. Sunny, supposed to have temps in the 80's, but still have a lovely breeze at the moment. Had morning coffee on my back porch and enjoyed it so much.

Here's the card I was trying to finish - had the image colored (with Chromatix markers), but couldn't get it diecut, matted & on a card in time for DD's anniversary. So one for the stash. I deliberately left off a sentiment - which will go in the lower right corner.

Just at the moment I can't locate this cling stamp - purchased at my delightful day at Betty's Scrapbook Room. I can't remember if it is a Penny Black or Hero Arts. I stamped with Versamark, heat embossed with Ranger Seafoam white. Since there was a lot of embossing, I didn't want to ruin copic marker nibs, so I used Chromatix markers (they are cheaper!). I haven't done a lot with these markers, and found that for me, they didn't blend as well as the Copics. However, once the piece dried, I was ok with the look. I think next time, I'll try this with just stamping in Memento, coloring with copics. The stamp is probably buried under something, and when I find it, I'll edit this post as to the company name.

- Memory Box Sonora Rose diecut using snippets on the pile, and added some shading with copics.

5/14/2013

Happy Afternoon & welcome. Today has been spent doing receipt validation so I could get the credit card bill paid, and epay some other bills that came in while we were away. Too much like being back at work, when I had to do purchasing in one job I held. I don't enjoy doing this, but ah, such a sense of satisfaction when I get things sorted, handled and filed away (and the piles of mess squared away). Had to hurry to get a card for DD's anniversary (it's gonna be late). Didn't get the one I intended finished, so I hunted through some of my stash (what a good feeling it was to finally have a card stash, I might add). Decided upon one that worked ok, so just added an insert - and of course a check. That should redeem my tardiness.

Since I don't have a card to share, I scanned some pictures of the jewels we saw in the Natural History Museum (and no, I won't put all of them on one post!). I took pictures, but not a single one was fit to save. I had purchased a pack of postcards & I'm so glad I did. These jewels were awesome in the cases, but I had a hard time imagining someone actually being brave enough to step outside wearing these rocks. Guess times were different then. One of the names on the gems, gave me a bit of a smile. I'll let you guess which.

Hope Diamond-believed to be cut from the French Bleu-brought to France from India in 1668 to be part of the crown jewels.
The French Bleu was stolen in 1792, never recovered. In 1812 an extraordinary 45.52 carat deep blue diamond came on the market in London, purchased by Henry Philip Hope, for whom it was named. Acquired from the estate of Mrs. Evelyn Walsh McLean by Harry Winston and presented in 1958 to the Smithsonian.

Mackay Emerald Necklace - 168 carats - Designed by Cartier-1931 as a wedding gift in 1931 by Clarence Mackay to his wife

﻿

Hooker Diamonds (fancy yellow diamonds) Designed by Cartier-late 1960's- 50 starburst cut diamonds in a yellow gold necklace; stones range from about 1.0 to 20-carats and total approx. 245-carats. Ring is 61.12 carats

I hope you enjoyed seeing these fabulous jewels as much as I did. The Hope Diamond was my main objective when going to this particular museum. It is displayed in the center of the first room one walks into, in a case which is lowered into a vault each night (or so we were told). It revolves in quarter turn increments & is stationary just long enough for a good photographer to fire off a shot. Visitors were packed 3-4 deep all around the circular display column, so I had to wait my turn, and try to edge up closer. These pictures simply do not convey the actual sparkle, lustre & magnificence of seeing IRL.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Have a blessed evening, and come again soon. Hugs ﻿

5/13/2013

Good evening and Welcome. I'm back with another sticker card, and a few more photos of our trip. I hope you enjoy seeing the pictures... but if you get bored, just skip 'em! I always like to see places that I've never (and may never) visited, so that's why I'm posting some of these.

- tan colored textured Bazzill cardbase
- green snippet embossed with a butterfly folder
- PBlack Vintage sticker (from 2004 - stash oldie), matted with a blue snippet, then a pink snippet (guess the sticker could be called a snippet too!)
- MS punched butterfly - a snippet- Memory box diecut lacey border - punched from paper colored with H20's (in a long-ago class where we were just 'making stuff') - a snippet- sentiment punched with SU oval & scalloped punches. White snippet which looked way too white on this card, so I sponged some Memento Desert Sand then a bit of pink DI - think it was Victorian Velvet or Spun Sugar.

I had a nice long nap this afternoon, so I think I'm ready to dash over to the Playground...see if the fun is still going on. (There's a bunch of snippets here, so they may let me in the gate. I understand there is a new pet to admire...) Won't you come along....and you'll see some astounding cards made using up snippets. (otherwise called scraps, and snippets sounds SO MUCH nicer! <g>)

5/12/2013

Good evening friends, and I've been doing laundry all day. How two people could dirty up so many clothes in just a few days is beyond my comprehension. I didn't think we took that much with us...each of us had a small bag. I have a card to share that was made & photo'd before I left, but the photo was terrible. I resnapped it this afternoon in the sunshine on our backporch. I had it on our table, and I had to stand to the side so as not to get a shadow...and the positional aspect looks odd. But...here's another sticker card.

- PBlack vintage sticker (old)- snippets of red, then green for mats- snippet of another red, embossed C/B border, then rubbed with gold Delicata ink using a finger dauber- tan color textured Bazzill for cardbase Probably the fastest card I've ever done! Thanks to all the Playground ladies who inspired this card with their fantastic use of PB stickers. I'm too tired to link this to the Playground Snippet Week , but if you have the time to enjoy some beautiful cards, I urge you to take a little visit.

5/11/2013

Home again, home again, jiggity jig! I love being different places, but am not a great traveler. I always want to be in my OWN bed come nightfall. I'm so happy to be back in our own bed tonight, with our own 'stuff' about us! We did have a wonderful time - other than the youngster problem one day - and Mt. Vernon was totally worth all the botheration at the Smithsonian. We stopped last evening at a nice Holiday Inn outside of Richmond. Had some good beds, and slept well. Had a good breakfast after we loaded the truck & then headed south.

5/10/2013

Good evening, and tonight finds us somewhere around Richmond, VA. I'm not sure just where. Today we had a lovely time finding Mt. Vernon. We checked out of the DC hotel about 10ish, after our friend had left about 6am to catch a plane out of Reagan International at 8:30. I got up to say goodbye, and went back to sleep. Miss G was great getting us out of the city, and on the road to the 1st President's Home. After we got on the secondary roads, the small towns we traveled through were quite pretty. You don't see the Mansion when you drive into the parking areas. You do get an idea of the vistas that the Washingtons must have had though. It is very commercial now (what isn't!), but in spite of that, the aura of peace right around the house & gardens is very well preserved. Of course I didn't have enough time to 'look at everything' as we toured the house, as there was a long line in front of us, a long line behind us. So I had to look and move along. No picture taking in the house either.

5/09/2013

Good evening & happy Thursday. I hope my post yesterday did NOT discourage anyone from visiting Washington, DC. It really is a pretty & clean city to be so large, and with such a diversity of peoples. So much to see, and it is free to enter the museums at the Smithsonian. We just managed to hit it at a time when lots of the schools were doing their trips to the Capital. Unfortunate for us, but again, I'm happy that the schools are still trying to teach our youth about the founding of our country. Just wish that the ones we encountered would have had more of a sense of solemnity about what they were seeing, and appreciating the cost to our forebears for them to have all the freedoms we have today.

Today we drove out to another Smithsonian National Aerospace Museum, and we had sunny weather, just a few school kids. I must say these youngsters were much better behaved, and while they acted 'like kids do', it was refreshing to see they were more interested in seeing the exhibits than being on their phones, hollering to each other, running around, etc. We were pleased to see them asking the tour guides questions, and as far as we could tell, being polite & interested. I can't remember all that we saw (planes are not my cup of tea,....really), but we did see the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the bombs on the Japanese cities), and the Discovery (BIG, BIG ...carried the space shuttle). My DH used to work for the company that built a lot of the engines for many of these planes & other aircraft. So of course we had to take tons of pictures of LOTS of planes! <g>

Left the museum, had lunch with a relative of our friend, headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow is checkout. Our friend has a very early flight back to Yankeeland, so we will leave a bit later. We are hoping to stop at Mt. Vernon - the home of our first President. I've always wanted to see it, and since we don't expect to return to this area, I wanted to see it while we have the opportunity. IF our GPS will guide us there!

I would strongly encourage anyone who has a chance to visit Washington, and has an interest in history, to take an opportunity to visit if you can. Despite our aggravation with the
rowdy school kids, it has been worth it to revisit the Smithsonian. Time didn't permit visits to the Capitol or other historical buildings that are available for public viewing. We saw these on a trip with our daughter long, long years ago, so had decided THIS trip would be especially devoted to the Smithsonian.

Thanks for dropping by to visit, and have a wonderful Friday. See ya soon. Hugs

5/08/2013

Good evening, friends. And we're still here in Wash, DC. Yesterday we were in the rain most of the day. Along with what must be every school on the East Coast having their annual trip to Washington. We're delighted to see our school children being shown our country's Capital City. What we are very much less delighted by, is the lack of respect these youngsters seem to show. We saw the War Memorials the afternoon we arrived, as it was too late to try to get into any of the 'inside' museums. We could walk along outside as long as we wished. I had promised myself I would not see any of these, (I'm far too emotional). DH & our friend said "you need to see these", and off we go. With me saying every step of the way "Well, I WON'T go see the Viet Nam Memorial". The WWII Memorial was simply awesome. I didn't think it would 'bother me', but folks, when I thought about the sacrifices made by those people who gave their lives in this war for me, my family & friends, my country, I had to start wiping the eyes. The 2 gentlemen with me, are both Veterans, and even though each sort of rolled their eyes at my 'waterworks'{ as they put it}, when each thought nobody was watching, I saw some eyes get dried. The school kids - unfortunately, were running, high-fiving with their friends, on the cell phones, hollering at each other, even climbing in places where they should not have been. It was quite upsetting to us older folk. I think these youngsters just don't realize the sacredness of this place. The Viet Nam Memorial was not quite so bad, but still - some running, and noise making. I did NOT stop to try to find any names, although my 2 guys did. I just walked & looked, felt proud & sad, sniffling & wiping my eyes again. I did NOT go to the Holocaust Museum...I KNEW I would be a basket case in there.

5/06/2013

Howdy Folks, and hope your day is going great. By the time you read this scheduled post, I should be in Washington, DC, trying to find the hotel. Have I ever mentioned that DH & I are both very directionally challenged? We got a new Road Atlas & have a GPS on the pickup. Bet we still get lost!

I did get 2 more quick Penny Black sticker cards finished. Alas, didn't have time to photograph, and it's very, very late (or I should say very early in the am). We have to head out for the family reunion pretty early (no problem, I'll sleep on the road...we travel together a lot better if I do that. Better for both our nerves cuz I'm a "OOOHH" type of passenger.) I will just have to drag my sleepy self out of bed, throw some clothes in the luggage, pack some meds and the new machines..& off we'll go.

I just wanted to pop in quickly before shutting down pc operations to say Hi & Bye, see ya when I get back. Ya'll Playground folks, play nice now, ya heah? Hugs.

Edit: I scheduled this post at home, before I realized we would take the laptop...so this post was written before the one I wrote about our road adventures (otherwise known as GPS challenged Crows). LOL

Happy early (VERY EARLY) Monday morning. After saying I would leave the laptop at home, we decided at the last minute to pack it along. The main reason was not checking email for 4+ days would nearly guarantee I'd have a ton of email & lots of spam when we got home. So basically I'll probably just be checking email, but I'll try to pop into the blog if I can. We had a very rainy ride up the interstate this morning going from SC to NCarolina, where our family's home is. Unfortunately, due to the rains, we had our gathering at the Fellowship Room of our 'old family church' rather than at the Homeplace. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents on both sides, 2 brothers & plenty of uncles, aunts, & assorted kinfolks, are laid at rest at this old church. Sadly we didn't have as many relatives show up for the reunion, but it was still nice to see those who did. So many of the folks who loved to attend, are no longer with us; most of the youngsters don't have a lot of interest in keeping up the reunion. One of my older cousins who was there today, wondered out loud "I just don't know where everybody is...." in such a bewildered voice (and she still has all her marbles too! <g>.) I told her "Look out the windows" - (the room faces the cemetery!). She laughed and said "Guess you're right". Usually my brothers & I pay a visit to our loved ones' graves to stand together for a few moments in quiet. It was just too rainy to do that today. My 2 oldest brothers & their wives were there today, but we all traveled separately as we each had different plans afterward. The youngest brother (who is older than I) lives in California, and they couldn't make it back East just now.

We headed up towards Virginia, driving in rain all the late afternoon. At the moment we are in a little Virginia town about 2 hrs south of Washington. The plan is to get up in the am, wait until the work rush traffic time has passed, then just amble on into Washington, and find the hotel. GPS systems work great...WHEN you can program in the address. Our truck will not let new addresses be keyed in while the vehicle is in Drive. The engine will be on, but the vehicle must still be in Park. You have to give voice commands when the truck is in Drive. Unfortunately, DH does NOT have the knack of saying addresses properly! Our Miss GPS does NOT like southern accents (and he's not really southern either!). He will say "Twenty three 0 Four" instead of "Two Three Zero Four", no matter how many times I tell him that's not the correct way to say it. He also insists on saying "ADD-Dress" instead of "Uh-Dress", and the GPS won't recognize the word! We can set up a voice profile so that the GPS learns your voice patterns - but we've not done that yet. (guess who was reading the owner's manual when she wasn't sleeping). So when we get back home, and before we take our trip out west later this summer, that is one chore we MUST get done. Also we can program 2 user profiles, because GPS won't recognize my passenger voice either. So I have to fiddle with the thing manually. We did purchase a new Road Atlas for this trip, and it came in real handy today!!

So that's it for this morning. Hope I gave you a chuckle or two, imaging Heckel & Jekyll (2 cartoon crows from my long-ago childhood) trundling along the interstate, trying to find their way!! Have a wonderful day, and catch ya later, gators. Hugs

5/05/2013

Hello, Happy Sunday. As you read this post, I will be at my family reunion. This was one of the fast cards I was trying to finish so I'd have some posts to schedule. I have had some lovely Penny Black stickers (or stickeroos as my UK friends call 'em) for several years. I really never know how to use them to best effect - unlike my buddy Miss Pixie - she of great Playground fame. <g>. This sheet of stickers has been on my desk for some time, waiting for inspiration. In my quest to get things ready a bit faster than my usual slow pace of coloring & deciding how to make a card, I finally took the plunge. I love roses, which is why I bought this sheet of stickers (PB Vintage Greetings - 2004).

5/04/2013

Happy Saturday afternoon Friends...and I hope it's a wonderful one in your part of the world. It's another gloomy dreary one here in Upstate SC, windy, and the temps have dropped again (not terribly, but in the low 50's). I'm scurrying around trying to get ready to leave early tomorrow for a few days. Got my list, checking it off as I do things, adding stuff on the list I forgot to write the first time. I tried to get some cards finished last night, so I could schedule some posts while I'm away. I decided to leave the laptop at home on this short trip. We'll be visiting museums (I HOPE) and doing a lot of walking, so I expect at night I shall be too tired to get on a computer. We got our breathing machines yesterday...DH's is slightly different from the one I have to use. The technician who brought them out, showed us the use & cleaning thereof, strongly suggested we take them with us. Reason: There is a chip in each machine that shows the usage hours, any problems the patient might have with air leakage, etc., and in order to have Medicare cover these items - you are required to use it a certain number of hours in a certain time frame. So - the laptop would be just one more bag to lug along. Let me tell you, all the info this lovely lady passed along to us, put my ole brain right into info overload!!! Fortunately there is a manual for each machine, and hopefully we will both get better sleep - and have more energy - with regular use of the CPap (DH's) and VPap (mine). OK, enough waffling, onto the card:

5/03/2013

Top o' the mawnin' bloggers, and sure Happy It's Friday!!! I remember when I worked I was always so happy to see Friday come around - even though it was one of my busiest days usually. Many a year, I didn't get the weekend off, but psychologically, it still made my mood lift. As opposed to Sunday afternoon & night, when I'd sort of dread the start of the work week. Never thought I'd make it to retirement...But thankfully I did. And finally discovered card making. AND BLOGGING! What fun.

Now, a warm SC Welcome to a new follower, Scrappy Girl - http://scappygirltherapy.blogspot.com/. This linking is something I've seen on some other blogs, think it is a lovely thing to do, wish I had started doing it sooner! (Darnell, I sneaked your idea on this one! Thanks). Maybe if you have time, you can pay a visit to Scrappy Girl, who popped in here from the Playground. You meet the loveliest crafters in the Playhouse, and psst...sometimes we get up to some good mischief. (all perfectly harmless of course!)

5/02/2013

Welcome this afternoon, and thanks for joining me. Today I have a pretty Penny Black stamp as the focus of a card. I had seen this card, thought it was lovely, and remembered that I had a partially colored image stored away - somewhere! Hunted it up while I was on my blog hiatus, and thought "hm, what if I airbrushed the background with some E43, could I achieve something of this vintage look that Mrs. A did so beautifully?". And off I went. I was pleased with how it turned out, so thanks Valery for your inspiration!

5/01/2013

Good afternoon, and welcome to my little part of the world. Warm Welcomes to some new followers. I hope you'll enjoy what you see here, and I'll do my best to come pay you a visit as well. Lovely to have you join me.

I have another card to share today, which probably should be considered a sympathy card. However, I liked Thinking of you better, and used my Elizabeth Crafts die instead of stamping, so hence the name. This card is for a fellow blogger, whom I've never met in person...yet I wanted to let the person know I was indeed thinking about her. I know she likes birds, so I've been working on this one & finally got it finished. I hope she will enjoy the card, be pleased that someone had thought of her, and that it will convey my caring.